"Unlike lectures, games can be adapted to the pace of the user," Mayo writes. "Games also simultaneously present information in multiple visual and auditory modes, which capitalizes on different learning styles."

While no one is saying that an experience akin to Call of Duty or World of Warcraft will ever replace more traditional lessons, research into the effectiveness of video games as learning tools indicates that classrooms of the future will certainly include a virtual component.

As education is generally still using 19th century techniques, models, etc, the bigger the change the better.
I read the other day that some US edu adviser was advocating pre-reading skills and developing social skills as important at pre-schools. My kids were in a system, she is advocating, thirty years ago.
Most grandparents would say the same thing.
To compete with TV and comp games at home, I used them at school. The most primitive game is better than listening to the teacher. Include it in the reward system and you get cooperation in the classroom. This was ten+ years ago.

my 4 year old boots me off my laptop all the time, self-teaching organism

Instead of trying to find new methods to teach the average to understand concepts they will never need or use.

Why don't we concentrate on teaching them how to be successful, healthy, good citizens?

Wow, what a thought. Teach them to understand contracts, how to hold a job and get promoted and how to survive in our over regulated, sue happy society.

Nah, lets invest billions in video games to teach the semi-illiterate scientific concepts they will never need or use in their jobs bagging groceries.

@ gemfem - Some good points which are appropriate for lagging family units. Aren't you being just a tad cynical about the potential for digital learning.

My friend who started Macrovision now owns a company which sells solutions based on the concepts of digital learning: http://www.alleninteractions.com/

I think you'll see that much has taken place already to obviate the necessity of "spending billions".

It's hard to see a bright future for the classroom when the first thing that gets cut in a budget is education; teachers and teacher aides are laid off, classroom sizes are growing, the text books being used are out of date and the list goes on. High tech classrooms are for the private schools with all the money. Public schools are too underfunded to educate our students in their present state.